Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(40)

She heard fighting and crashing. She pushed herself into the far corner of the room and pulled out her own gun, not daring to point it anywhere but the floor. She didn’t want to hit Coleton. But she didn’t know what was going on. She could see shapes tumbling in her living room. She edged along the wall and tried another light switch. The light turned on and she blinked against it.

Coleton was on the floor, fighting with a man dressed all in black. Coleton was on top, wrenching the man’s arms up between his shoulder blades. A shorter man, thick and muscular, trained a gun and a flashlight on the man she’d bitten.

Jen looked at the 4 men, and panic filled her. The images she’d pushed away earlier filled her brain again. Hunter, Sgt. Sadler, and Ryker with bullets in their brains. And Ivy?

Jen grabbed her phone and speed dialed Ivy. Three rings. Four rings. 8 rings. Her heart dropped to her shoes and terror crowded out all rational thought. She ran past Coleton who was still wrestling on the floor with one of her attackers. She sprinted through her shattered door and ran to her car, calling 911 as she went and ignoring the cries of the men behind her.



***



Jen pulled in front of Ivy’s apartment, parking her car in a loading zone. She looked around for the cops, but didn’t see any. Sirens sounded in the distance. Too far away. She couldn’t wait. But hopefully when she made it to Ivy’s apartment, she would find Ivy sleeping, or just relaxing with her phone turned off, and she could call off the cops who were headed here.

Jen ran up the steps to Ivy’s place. She held her gun in front of her, the way that Hunter had taught her in training. Each step she took jogged a silent prayer in her brain. Please let Ivy be alright. In front of Ivy’s door she raised her hand to knock, then let it fall. She tried the knob. Unlocked. She pushed in the door slowly and silently, fear causing her heart to thud painfully in her chest. All she could hear was hot blood whooshing past her ears. But she didn’t dare take the time to take a few calming breaths.

The opening door revealed a man dressed in black standing in Ivy’s living room with his back to Jen. He was talking on the phone, looking at a piece of paper in his hand. Jen could read some of it. —ton St. “Yeah we finally found it. The job will be done shortly. I haven’t heard from them. OK Boss, I’ll call you back in 10.” Jen slid in the door and closed it, stepping in the doorway to the right of the front door. The kitchen. Her foot caught on something heavy and she almost tripped on it. She looked down. Ivy’s doorstop, a cement elephant. She peeked out at the man in the living room again. He picked up a pillow off the couch, looked at it, then threw it down. “Hurry up, man!” He yelled down the hallway that led to the bedroom. “Boss wants us done and out of here. I know he said you could f*ck her but you gotta be quick!”

Fireworks exploded in Jen’s brain. She shoved the gun in her pocket, picked up the cement elephant and took a silent step towards the man in the living room. He grunted and grabbed another pillow off the couch, a bigger one. She raised the heavy doorstop over her head, took three more steps and let her foot slide along the carpet. The man turned to look at her, surprise in his eyes, and Jen planted the cement elephant between his eyes. The crunch and the blood sickened her, but she swallowed the feelings. The man tottered on his feet for a second, then thumped to the floor.


Jen pulled her gun out of her pocket and held it in one hand. She kicked off her shoes and ran like a whisper down the hallway. Deja vu of that morning she discovered Adam flashed through her mind. She let it come and go without comment or interest. She could already see in the bedroom. She saw Ivy’s legs, completely relaxed on the bed. A man dressed in black, stood at the foot of the bed. His pants were loose around his midsection, his belt discarded on the floor. Jen sniffed quietly at a strong chemical smell. Something to knock Ivy out? The man put one knee on the bed. Only his left hand was visible. Empty. She couldn’t take a stand here in the hallway. He might drop onto Ivy, try to use her body as protection. She tiptoed all the way to the doorway, and watched him climb on the bed and push his pants down farther. Disgust and anger filled her, consumed her. She thumbed the safety off of her gun, trained the cross hairs right between his ears, and slipped behind him to the side of the bed, her eyes laser focused on him. “Stop moving or I’ll shoot you,” she said, her voice tightly controlled and full of threat. He jerked his head towards her, surprise on his face. Then his eyes dropped to Ivy. Jen flicked her eyes down, a pound of pressure already on the trigger. He had a gun in his hand. He moved it, quicker than lightning, towards Ivy’s head, words spilling out of his mouth. “I’ll shoot—” Jen’s eyes flicked back to him and she never hesitated.

Fire and noise filled the room. Jen narrowed her eyes against it, but never took them off of the monster on the bed. He fell sideways, towards the wall that was painted with his blood and brains. Jen reached out and pushed him with her gun, spilling him off the bed, but pulling the gun out of his hand as she did so. She moved around the bed so she could see him. He lay still, his pants loose and showing dirty white underwear. Jen chanced a look down the hallway to the living room. The other man’s feet lay exactly where she had left them.

Only then did she look at Ivy. Ivy’s eyes were closed and she could see no sign of injury on her. She was still fully clothed. With her gun still trained on the devil on the floor, she reached a hand out to Ivy’s chest. It moved up and down slightly under her hand. Jen finally let out the breath it felt like she’d been holding since she first pushed open the door. Thank God. Sounds of the world came rushing back to her in a flood. She heard feet pounding up stairs and shouts.